I think this chapter will be good if you're a little heartbroken over the TV show Eclare. :) First week of Degrassi Season 11 was awesome! Go follow me on twitter (hereinyourarms_) of you'd like to express your feelings about it with me! Or on tumblr too (-here-in-your-arms)!

Please enjoy and thank you for watching! Please review!

Chapter Six – The Day After

Well…this is familiar.

Eli was on a couch once again, Clare in his arms sleeping, but this time it was different. Their holds on each other were tighter, they were keeping each other safe, this was very much different.

It seemed like a movie, yesterday. A dramatic confession, a big storm, the passionate kissing, and going into the basement to keep safe. It seemed like it would've made perfect scenes for a movie but it actually happened.

Eli thought that it would feel extremely weird having confessed about what actually happened to him but it was like a weight was lifted off his shoulders. Someone finally knew, someone who couldn't judge him. Clare was a blank slate, she wasn't affected by the rumors about him or have heard what happened. She listened to him and understood him and for some reason, still liked him afterwards.

Clare was still a mystery to him though. Sure he knew that her mother had a rough time after her divorce and eventually left on her own but that wasn't actually about Clare herself. It was just part of her past. She lives in the states also, in Chicago, with her Dad who's a doctor and she's only here for the summer.

"I don't get to know people because once I do, they're gone."

They would have to part ways eventually and he finally got Clare's fear. He wanted to get to know her and be around her, maybe even be with her but eventually he'd have to go back to Toronto, her to Chicago, and that would be tough for both of them. Eli could see their obvious connection and attraction and there was no way he could actually spend the rest of the summer here without getting to know her more. It would be impossible, especially now that they've both spilled big things about themselves.

Clare stirred in her sleep but only hugged Eli closed to himself. He smiled and kissed her forehead softly, his thumb running over her cheek. He didn't mean to wake her up but when she opened her eyes, he was happy to see her beautiful blue eyes looking up at him.

"What time is it?" Clare asked groggily but just settled but into his arms.

"I don't know, I can't actually get up because there's this girl who won't let go," Eli teased but just kissed her lips with a smile.

"Well in that case I don't care what the time is," Clare joked back.

"As much as I love this and I think we should do this a lot, preferably every night, but I think we might have to check out if there's any further damage and clean up."

Clare finally let go of Eli was laughing. "Never pegged you to be the responsible type."

"Well one of us has to be," Eli replied and pulled Clare up from the couch. They made their way upstairs and walked into the living room. Eli's foot stepped on glass already and he stopped in his tracks, Clare crashing into him from behind.

"Broken glass," Eli pointed out. Thankfully they were both wearing their shoes. They both looked at the damage from last night and were relieved to see that the damage didn't progress further than the crash they witnessed. But when they both walked into the kitchen, it was definitely worse than they imagined.

The small chandelier in table area of the kitchen had fallen, the plates and random decorations on the open shelves of the kitchen were broken and on the floor. It was a really big mess.

Eli turned to Clare who was in shock. He leaned down to kiss her and he felt her relax a bit, kissing back softly. "If you want you can go shower or something, I'll start cleaning up," Eli offered between kisses but Clare shook her head.

"I think we should just get started now," she sighed. She brought out some trash bags and handed one to Eli and also brought out rubber gloves.

"Gloves?" Eli questioned.

"Less likely to get cuts on your hand," Clare said and threw one to him. They proceeded to pick up the larger pieces of the broken things of the kitchen and whenever Clare got to a specific piece, Eli saw her stare at it a bit and force herself to throw it away.

"Are some of these things memories?" Eli asked while pausing his work.

"Yeah," Clare replied. "My mom and I used to paint plates together. These are just a few but…it's still hard to see them broken."

"Maybe we could fix some?"

"Let's just…drop it, okay?" Clare started picking up anything and everything and threw it in her trash bag angrily. Eli watched Clare, just in a huff and throwing everything out, that eventually he heard her squeal in pain.

He saw blood over the glove and realized there was a cut in the glove and probably also in her skin. He grabbed the nearest towel she could find and took off her glove and pressed the towel onto the deep cut. Clare groaned in pain but Eli knew that that was how to take care of that type of wound.

"Is there a first aid kit somewhere around here? Maybe a hospital I could take you because I'm thinking this could need stitches," Eli said regretfully. "I mean, if you have a needle and some thread I could do it but I don't think you'd want me doing this."

Clare rolled her eyes but cracked a smile. "Hospital's two miles away."

"Well let's go then."

Clare was taking a long time in the emergency room, mostly because the big storm had created a lot of injuries for other people. Eli waited in the waiting room, his leg bouncing up and down waiting. There were families around him all waiting as well and he felt like he was the only one who was there alone.

Finally Clare walked into the waiting room and Eli quickly got up and wrapped his arms around her. "You okay?" he asked, looking down at her bandaged hand.

"Yeah, the doctor said I'll have to come back in a week to check how it is and maybe I'll have the stitches removed then," Clare said. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah," Eli breathed. He kept his arm around her waist and led her to the car. Once on the road again, he heard Clare laugh beside him softly. He didn't think he was meant to hear it but he did.

"What's so funny?" he inquired.

Clare waved her non-injured hand and said, "It's nothing."

"No, I wanna know," Eli said, keeping his eyes on the road.

He heard Clare sigh. "It's just that…I haven't had someone take care of me in a long time."

"But your Dad—"

"Is a doctor," Clare cut him off. "Meaning he spends most of his time at the hospital. If anything I take care of him. I make sure there's food for whenever he comes home or I bring him food at the hospital during his long shifts. He hasn't really been a hands on parent since the divorce."

"Oh."

"Yeah…"

"I'm glad I get to be the one who's taking care of you," Eli said sincerely. "It's nice to have someone to take care of for once." He reached out for her left hand and held it in his own.

Once they got to the house, Eli sent Clare upstairs to rest while he went to clean up the rest of the kitchen.

After a few hours, Eli finally had the kitchen cleaned up and heated up some leftovers. He brought it up to Clare's room and found her still sleeping on her bed. He put aside the food and looked out Clare's window and saw that the beach was cluttered with debris and wood. There were even some tree branches that must've been blown pretty far. It looked like a big mess outside.

"Hey."

Eli turned around and saw Clare still laying down but with her eyes slightly open. "How long have you been waiting?"

"I finished cleaning the kitchen but I was only here a few minutes," Eli answered and sat down on the bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Still tired," Clare yawned. "But I should help clean up. It is my responsibility."

"I'm not gonna let you hurt yourself even more. Feel free to watch but I've got it," Eli assured her. He leaned over her body to grab the plate on her bedside table. "You haven't eaten all day so here."

"Did you cook?" Clare asked as she sat up.

"No," Eli scoffed. "Leftovers."

Clare put aside the plate and swiftly grabbed Eli's head and brought him to kiss her. Eli felt himself getting pulled over her and soon Clare was laying on the bed with him hovering over her, their lips firmly attached.

"You know," Eli muttered between kisses. "You're…grabbing…my face…pretty hard…your hand…"

"Well…how do I…know you…won't run away from me," Clare gasped out. She had both hands around his ears, wrapping around to his hair, and Eli could feel her bandaged right hand.

"I won't," Eli promised. "And this is very enjoyable but you need to eat and I need to clean up the living room."

Clare finally took her grip off Eli's head but Eli stayed hovering over her. "Why are you so good to me?" Clare whispered.

Eli smirked. "Because I need a place to stay."

He earned a smack on his shoulder but he leaned down for a peck on the lips. "Just kidding. It's because you deserve someone taking care of you and I like having someone to take care of. Good?"

"Good."

Eli finally got off the bed and handed the plate to Clare. "You better be finished before you come downstairs."

"Yes sir," Clare said sarcastically, saluting to him. Eli rolled his eyes and left the room and proceeded to clean up the broken glass and wood in the living room. He made sure to clean up underneath the couches and between its cushions just in case.

Once he cleaned up, he looked at the broken window on the wall. He didn't know how to replace windows but he figured it'd be another good distraction if he tried to figure it out. He made a list in his head on what he'd have to do. Get some basis for instructions online, go to a hardwood store…

Eli heard footsteps and saw Clare coming downstairs with plate in hand. "Happy?" Clare asked while showing him the empty plate.

"Yes," Eli smiled. "I'm gonna have to fix this window."

"Do you know how?"

"No," Eli admitted. "But I'll figure it out."

"You don't have to, we could just cover it for now—"

"Clare."

"Eli."

"Shut up. I'm fixing it."

"Fine, fine. You're stubborn."

Eli was now standing in front of Clare and he raised his brows. "Get used to it." He kissed her chastely and started to make his way into kitchen after taking her plate.

"So how do you actually plan on fixing the window?" Clare asked while following him.

"I'll figure it out," Eli said. "Might be tough but I've got all summer."

Clare looked at him sincerely and Eli got the vibe that she really liked the fact that he would be there for a long while. Then she laughed and stepped closer to him. "I sure hope it won't take you two months to fix a window."

"No promises," Eli joked.

It seemed that their kissing would happen whenever they laid eyes on each other but Eli didn't mind and he was sure Clare wasn't minding it either. He pushed her against the kitchen cabinets and had one hand on the counter beside her waist and had his body firmly against hers.

While kissing Clare, he realized he knew nothing about her past relationships and how she felt about romantic relationships. Had she had a boyfriend before? Probably, she's intelligent and beautiful, who wouldn't like her? But he had told her about his past with relationships, wasn't it only fair?

"Tell me something," Eli muttered against her lips.

Clare was breathing deeply and Eli liked that she always had a red face whenever they kissed. "Anything," she breathed and leaned up for another kiss.

Eli got caught up in their heated kiss that he'd forgotten to ask the question. But after a few minutes, he finally broke off the kiss and asked, "Tell me about your past boyfriends."

He was afraid of having pried or making her uncomfortable but he was glad to see Clare smiling. "Why? Jealous?"

"Well I'm jealous of any guy that has gotten to kiss you so?"

"I only had two," Clare told him and Eli was intrigued already. "My first boyfriend was this jock type, really sweet though at first, and kind of with a troubled past. Group home, non-reliable parents, all that. Then when this new girl came, he started flirting with her and eventually he broke up with me for her and now they have a child together."

Eli's eyes widened. "Wow, did not see that ending coming."

"Me neither," Clare admitted laughing. "And yet, it did. Their child is really cute though. His name is Tyson."

"First thought, chicken brand," Eli replied and Clare smacked his shoulder. "What? That was the first thing I thought!"

"Ty is adorable, don't make fun," Clare pouted.

Eli kissed the pout away. "Okay, okay. But you better show me a picture."

"Good thing I brought one of my picture albums," Clare replied with a grin. "You'll see a lot with my exes though, maybe we'll just skip those."

"No, I'd like to see my competition," Eli teased. "So you said you had two, who's the other one?"

Clare's face slightly dropped but she went on to talk about him anyways. "His name was Jake. Childhood best friend that actually went to school with me here before I moved to Chicago and for some reason, he and his dad relocated to Chicago two years after I did. We started going out pretty soon after he came and we broke up a month before I came here."

"Oh," Eli said. "Why did you break up?"

"We were just…always going to be just good friends," Clare sighed. She looked up at him and he smiled slightly, showing that he understood. "But he was definitely good looking, like, unbelievably good—"

Eli cut her off with a hot kiss, trying to show her that he did not want her talking about other guys like that even though they weren't official or anything. He started kissing down her jaw and eventually to her ear and as he breathed heavily he said, "No more of that."

"Okay," Clare said but almost moaned. Eli smiled against her skin and looked eye-level to her. "You think you're so good."

"I know I am," Eli said confidently. Then he remembered… "Oh, I don't think I finished putting the converter in your car. I should see now."

"I was thinking I'd finish the cookies but since I'm sure it's spoiled by now, I'll make a new batch?"

"Perfect," Eli replied happily. "I'll be outside if you need me."

"I'll be here if you need me," Clare told him and they kissed before Eli went outside to Clare's truck.

He popped the hood and peaked inside, making sure he had put the catalytic converter in correctly. While inspecting, his head deep in the car, a voice said,

"Hi, is this inn open?"

"Yes, it is," Eli answered without looking up.

"Thank you."

Eli continued to work and eventually he made sure the engine was running smooth by starting it and driving it around for a bit. Once he pulled back up to the house, he was wiping his hands on a towel when he walked into the house.

There were voices in the kitchen and Eli walked in. Surprised couldn't even begin to cover what he felt.

"Eli," Clare stood up from her stool. "This is…"

"What are you doing here?" Eli asked bitterly.

"I could ask you the same thing," they replied.

"You two…know each other?" Clare uncomfortably said, looking between the two.

Neither of them spoke.

"Eli, I don't know how you know Marlena but remember the friend that helped out my mom? That was Marlena," Clare said and Eli had to remind himself to breathe.

"So that's why you left?" Eli accused her angrily. "You left her, she couldn't trust me because of you, you broke her."

"Eli!" Clare scolded. "What are you talking about?"

"Marlena is Julia's mom, Clare. She left Julia with no explanation at all."